Child rapist ‘monster’ jailed for campaign of abuse on five girls

Ben Fishwick

A DISTRAUGHT victim of a pensioner who carried out a string of sex attacks on five young girls has branded him a ‘monster’.

Robert Bailey, a retired HGV driver, denied ever abusing a single child but a trial at Portsmouth Crown Court revealed his paedophile ‘double life’.

Now he has been jailed for 23 years by a judge who said his actions were ‘beyond any decent person’s understanding’.

The 73-year-old, of Belmore Close Fratton, launched a ‘campaign’ of grooming and rape against one young girl, with the judge saying Bailey ‘threatened her if she squealed’.

In a statement the girl, who was around four when the abuse started, said: ‘Every part of my life has been affected, every day, because of what this monster has done to me as a child.’

Sentencing, judge David Melville QC told how Bailey carried out repeated sex attacks on the girl before repeatedly raping her.

‘She was a vulnerable girl, you softened her up so she was even more vulnerable and you went whole hog with her,’ the judge said.

He added: ‘It was a sustained campaign by you on a young vulnerable woman, it was truly awful.’

Such was the control Bailey had, the judge said the convicted sex offender ‘completely brought her to heel in a disgraceful way’.

He added: ‘She had a thoroughly miserable time because of you.

‘She’s made a witness statement about the offence on her.

‘You should feel completely appalled by what you’ve done, there’s no hint of it to day.’

Naturist Bailey, who stands overweight at more than 6ft, abused one girl as young as two, the court was told. The second victim, aged between four and six at the time, was indecently assaulted when Bailey rubbed his hands ‘all over her’.